Mäkelä & Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra

It has been 26 years since the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra last performed at the Brucknerhaus Linz. Now, "the world’s greatest orchestra" (Gramophone Magazine) is returning – and with a bang: On one hand, Klaus Mäkelä – the designated chief conductor of both the orchestra and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra – a truly exceptional artist and one of the most sought-after conductors in the world today, will make his debut in Linz. On the other hand, he will be joined by two outstanding singers, soprano Jennifer Johnston and bass-baritone Gerald Finley, to present Béla Bartók's one-act opera Duke Bluebeard's Castle in a concert version on the stage of the Great Hall. "The castle is old, the legend surrounding it is old as well. Listen now, listen." Thus begins the prologue of the work, whose eerie and shimmering narrative revolves around the seven locked doors of Bluebeard's castle, the secrets of which his wife Judith attempts to uncover. Bartók crafted this tale into overwhelming sounds according to all the rules of art. The first half of the concert already lures the audience into this fairy-tale sound world with Antonín Dvořák's Symphony No. 7 in D minor, a work that, according to the composer himself, "must have the power to move the whole world."